HOLYOKE, Mass. (WWLP) – A new update on the status of the Geriatric Authority of Holyoke. Administrator Mike Stroetzel talked to 22News for the first time since the City decided to close the nursing home.

Stroetzel didn’t want to be on camera, but he was able to provide some new details on the ongoing closing process.

Stroetzel said the Geriatric Authority of Holyoke is not running out of food, they have a new vendor. Also, patients will continue to receive quality care until the last patient moves out.

The state Department of Public Health approved the Geriatric Authority’s closing plan about a week and a half ago. By the end of this week, if everything goes well, the Geriatric Authority will have 39 remaining residents.

Stroetzel said he’s been calling every nursing home within a 25-mile radius to find openings. On the day of the closing announcement, 115 people were working at the Geriatric Authority. Now, 107 people work there.

Stroetzel was hired only a couple months ago. He said he can’t speak about the prior mismanagement of funds, but he did say, one challenge for the Geriatric Authority was having most of its residents on Medicaid, and too few on private pay, resulting in insufficient funding for the nursing home.